This article is from page 12 of the 2014-03-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
CLARE County Council has been granted € 16.8 million to repair the damage wrought by this January’s devastating storms – more than € 7 million less than than the € 23.7 million in damage estimated to have taken place in the county.
This tranche of funding represents an allocation for the January storms alone, with the possibility of additional funding being made available to cover the € 13 million worth of damage, which was suffered by the county during the St Brigid’s Day storm in February.
The € 16.8 million is made up of an € 16,205,637 allocation from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government alongside a once-off refund of € 608,878 to cover money already spent by Clare County Council.
The funding has been already earmarked for a programme of repair works to roads, piers and harbours, coastal protection repairs and tourism infrastructure but no decision on how much funding will be allocated to each local area has yet been made.
“Clare County Council is cogently aware of the importance of undertaking repair works to damaged infrastructure and has already invested a considerable amount of its own resources in undertaking interim remedial works to ensure that the impact of the storm damage on local communities has been minimised,” said County Manager Tom Coughlan.
“In light of this extremely positive announcement, the council will now begin a process of engagement with the relevant funding departments and agencies with a view to proceeding with vitally important infrastructure repair works along Clare coastline.
“We would hope that further funding allocations will be made but the level of this allocation enables very significant works to be progressed. Due to the extensive disruption to community life along the Clare coastline and in light of the upcoming summer tourist season, the local authority is committed to progressing the planning and delivery of repair works as quickly as possible.”
The combined funding of € 16.8 million is in addition to the € 6 million already allocated by Government for the construction of a new pier at Doolin. This work includes the development of a pier as well as some flood defense works for Doolin.
It is unclear if the original Clare County Council estimated presented for damage at Doolin included a request for flood defenses which were already accounted for in the other € 6 million development.